近ツー元支店長らに有罪判決　ワクチン業務で過大請求―大阪地裁

　新型コロナウイルスワクチン接種に関する受託業務を巡り、大手旅行会社近畿日本ツーリストが自治体に過大請求していた事件で、大阪府東大阪市から計約８億９４００万円をだまし取ったとして詐欺罪に問われた同社関西法人ＭＩＣＥ支店の元支店長森口裕被告（５５）ら３人＝いずれも懲戒解雇＝の判決が１５日、大阪地裁であり、渡部市郎裁判長は各被告にいずれも懲役３年、執行猶予５年（求刑各懲役３年）を言い渡した。
　他の２人は同支店の元グループリーダー臼杵賢一（５９）、元チームリーダー太田幹雄（５５）両被告。
　判決で渡部裁判長は、売り上げを確保するために太田被告が事件を起こし、森口、臼杵両被告は太田被告の行為を追認したと指摘。巧妙で悪質な犯行で、「不正請求を是認する会社風土があったことが少なからず影響していた」と述べた。（2024/03/15-12:46）

Osaka District Court on Friday found three former Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. branch officials guilty of swindling the Higashiosaka municipal government out of hundreds of millions of yen through the western Japan city's COVID-19 vaccination program.
   Yutaka Moriguchi, 55, former branch chief, Kenichi Usuki, 59, former group leader, and Mikio Ota, 55, former team leader, were sentenced to three years in prison each, suspended for five years.
   According to the ruling, they conspired to defraud the city government out of 894 million yen by padding bills for call center operations under the municipal vaccination program the tourist agency's branch in the city of Osaka was commissioned for two years through March 2023. The amount includes 221 million yen they overcharged the city by exaggerating the number of operators.
   Presiding Judge Ichiro Watanabe said Ota initiated the scam and that Moriguchi and Usuki accepted his acts.
   While calling the case an artful, malicious crime, the judge pointed out that it was "influenced to no small degree by a corporate culture that condones fraudulent billing."